Big Idea Vignettes

11-2015 :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

IBM Design Thinking Facilitator Toolkitibm.biz/facilitatortoolkit

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ground Rules

• Write before you talk. Write or sketch lots of your ideas on sticky notes before talking about them. During discussions, capture the main points on sticky notes and post to the wall.

• There are no bad ideas. Start big—diverge to get everyone’s ideas out there. Remix to discuss, cluster, and seek patterns. Then converge to determine the strongest ideas.

• Stay focused on your users. Tell stories about users to keep them at the center of your attention.

• Everyone participates. Everyone has a Sharpie, everyone has a pad of sticky notes.

• Stay engaged. Avoid side conversations. Use a parking lot to capture issues that are off-topic.

• Start on time, stay on time. To meet our goals, we need to watch the clock and stick to the plan.

• Yes, and… It’s easy to play the devil’s advocate. Instead of dismissing the ideas that your teammates suggest, push yourself to build on them.

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

—Ed Catmull, founder of Pixar

“Early on, all of our movies suck.”

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ideation

Feature. Big idea.

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ideation

Big ideas are broad and conceptual and focused on user needs.

Features are discreet and tactical and focused on the machine.

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ideation

This is a feature.

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ideation

This is a big idea.

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ideation

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Ideation

“Yes, and!”

“It’s kinda like…”

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

It’s kinda like…

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

It’s kinda like…

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Activity: Big Idea Vignettes

Sketch + Headline + Caption

• Each teammate makes 3 Big Idea Vignettes.

• Focus on your user’s pain points.

• Stay away from feature functions.

• Not too much detail!• Obey the laws of physics.• It’s kinda like…

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Activity: Big Idea Vignettes

• Each team member generates at least one idea that’s

completely absurd!

Sketch + Headline + Caption

IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: © 2015 IBM Corporation

Activity: Big Idea Vignettes

• Each team member plays back their ideas to their group.

• Keep this quick and high-level.(15 seconds per vignette)

• Don’t discuss implementation or feasibility yet!

• Cluster similar and related ideas—try labeling the clusters.